Program raises awareness of local opioid problem

Jeffery Schill, a graduate of Ottawa County’s Drug Court, said his recovery is a product of local programs offered to help addicts receive treatment. In the background are silhouettes representing overdose deaths in Ottawa County in 2017.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)Buy Photo

PORT CLINTON - While overdose deaths are down in Ottawa County, that is not slowing efforts of local officials, health professionals and the recovery community from continuing to combat the issue of addiction.

On Friday, Ottawa County held its second annual Overdose Awareness Day, which not only is meant to remember those who have been lost to addiction, but also to reinforce the local community’s commitment to recovery.

In Ottawa County, seven people died from drug overdoses in 2017, which is a drop in half from 2016, when 14 people died from overdoses.

“There is progress, but the war is not over,” said Ottawa County Common Pleas Court Judge Bruce Winters. “There was an overdose yesterday.”

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Ottawa County Common Pleas Court Judge Bruce Winters said progress is being made locally to combat addiction, but that the war is not over.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

Although local numbers are down, 2017 was the worst year on record for overdoses nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control, which reported an average of nearly 200 deaths per day in the U.S.

“There was a time in our county when someone with an addiction landed in the lap of law enforcement and there was no plan, no help available for that person in need,” said Trevor Johnson, an officer with the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Drug Addiction Response Team.

With time, education and sincere concern, Johnson said some very driven people identified those issues and started working to solve them. The Drug Addiction Response Team, or D.A.R.T, was one of the results of those efforts.

The team responds to overdose calls and aims to fill the need for follow-up with overdose survivors who require treatment and can also provide investigations for the prosecution of addicts that either refuse treatment or fail to comply in the program.

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Ottawa County hosted its second annual Overdose Awareness Day at the courthouse lawn on Friday.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

Prior to these sorts of efforts, the criminal justice system could often be a revolving door for addicts.

Jeffery Schill, a recent graduate of Ottawa County’s Drug Court program, knew that firsthand before he began fighting for recovery.

“I am a product of what goes on in this building and this community,” Schill said from the lawn of the Ottawa County Courthouse. “These people gave a guy like me a chance.”

Schill, who had overdosed six times before his recovery, was in and out of the local county jail quite a bit, but said programs available there made it so he was not just sitting alone.

“In all honesty, I wanted to stop. I didn’t like that life,” he said. “I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I just didn’t know how.”

Schill said it was support from the same people that at one point he thought just wanted to lock him up that helped him find recovery.

“These things saved my life. Going to jail saved my life,” he said. “The recovery community in this town is powerful. I get to see a lot more people like me, a lot more survivors. I’m fortunate enough to be a survivor. Unfortunately, there are a lot that did not make it.”